A Process Management Process Area at Maturity Level 3

The purpose of Organizational Training (OT) is to develop skills and knowledge of people so they can perform their roles effectively and efficiently.

Organizational Training includes training to support the organization’s strategic business objectives and to meet the tactical training needs that are common across projects and support groups. Training needs identified by individual projects and support groups are handled at the project and support group level and are outside the scope of Organizational Training. Projects and support groups are responsible for identifying and addressing their training needs.

An organizational training program involves the following activities:

·         Identifying the training needed by the organization

·         Obtaining and providing training to address those needs

·         Establishing and maintaining a training capability

·         Establishing and maintaining training records

·         Assessing training effectiveness

Effective training requires the assessment of needs, planning, instructional design, and appropriate training media (e.g., workbooks and computer software), as well as a repository of training process data. As an organizational process, the main components of training include a managed training development program, documented plans, personnel with appropriate mastery of disciplines and other areas of knowledge, and mechanisms for measuring the effectiveness of the training program.

Identifying process training needs is based primarily on the skills required to perform the organization’s set of standard processes.

Identifying training needs may also address some training needs of suppliers, especially in those process elements that define interfaces with and expectations for suppliers.

Certain skills may be effectively and efficiently imparted through vehicles other than in-class training experiences (e.g., informal mentoring). Other skills require more formalized training vehicles, such as in a classroom, by Web-based training, through guided self-study, or via a formalized on-the-job training program. The formal or informal training vehicles employed for each situation should be based on an assessment of the need for training and the performance gap to be addressed. The term training used throughout this process area is used broadly to include all of these learning options.

Success in training can be measured by the availability of opportunities to acquire the skills and knowledge needed to perform new and ongoing enterprise activities.

Skills and knowledge may be technical, organizational, or contextual. Technical skills pertain to the ability to use equipment, tools, materials, data, and processes required by a project or process. Organizational skills pertain to behavior within and according to the employee’s organization structure, role and responsibilities, and general operating principles and methods. Contextual skills are the self-management, communication, and interpersonal abilities needed to successfully perform in the organizational and social context of the project and support groups.

The phrase project and support groups is used frequently in the process area description to indicate an organization-level perspective.

This process area applies to developing acquirer skills and knowledge so that those in the organization can perform their roles effectively and efficiently. However, these practices can also apply to developing the supplier skills and knowledge. Topics can include acquirer business practices (e.g., acceptance and invoicing) as well as technical practices that the acquirer desires to be performed in a particular way (e.g., reflect lean thinking) or a collaborative way (e.g., using an agile approach).

Refer to the Organizational Process Definition process area for more information about the organization’s process assets.

Refer to the Project Planning process area for more information about training needs identified by projects.

Refer to the Decision Analysis and Resolution process area for more information about applying evaluation criteria when selecting training approaches.

Specific Goal and Practice Summary

SG 1 Establish an Organizational Training Capability

SP 1.1       Establish Strategic Training Needs

SP 1.2       Determine Which Training Needs Are the Responsibility of the Organization

SP 1.3       Establish an Organizational Training Tactical Plan

SP 1.4       Establish a Training Capability

SG 2 Provide Necessary Training

SP 2.1       Deliver Training

SP 2.2       Establish Training Records

SP 2.3       Assess Training Effectiveness